If Eli Manning and his offensive mates were going to squeeze anything positive out of Friday night’s preseason showing against the Jets, it would have to be late in the second quarter, backed up on their own 9-yard line. The previous five possessions had ended with punts and no points, not as sorry as the past two games, but not nearly good enough.

“OK, we have to get it with the ones before we get out of there,’’ left tackle Will Beatty recalled thinking. “We definitely needed it, we needed to put points on the board as the first offense.’’

Finally, Manning looked as if he could operate this new West Coast offense without it coming apart at the seams. Operating out of the two-minute offense he runs so well, he completed 7 of 10 passes for 89 yards on an 11-play, 91-yard drive, finishing off with some improvisation on a 15-yard touchdown strike to Rueben Randle just five seconds before halftime. It pulled Eli and the starters within 10-7 and, thanks to another big performance by backup Ryan Nassib, the Giants beat the Jets 35-24 at MetLife Stadium to remain undefeated in the preseason.

“It is good to finish it off with a good two-minute drive,’’ Manning said. “That is something that we have been really good at here in the past. We had some decent drives going and then we would do something to set us back. We had a good finish.’’

Manning went 12 of 21 for 139 yards for a quarterback rating of 93.2, with most of his success coming on his final drive. Considering he completed one of his nine passes in the previous two games, this was an improvement. But seven points and one impressive possession is far from enough to infuse anyone around the Giants with confidence they are ready for the season to begin.